The Uruguayan team recently won the 2011 Copa América. They have won the Copa América 15 times, being the team that has won the tournament on most occasions. The team has won the FIFA World Cup twice, including the first World Cup in 1930. They won their second title in 1950, defeating the host, Brazil (2–1), in the final match, which received an attendance higher than any football match ever.

They have won the Gold Medals at the Summer Olympics twice, in 1924 and 1928.

Uruguay is the only nation in world to organize multiple major international tournaments in their own country and win them all. La Celeste won 7 Copa América tournaments, 1 World Cup and Mundialito, all staged in Uruguay.

 

First game: Uruguay  vs Egypt (15/06)

Star: Luis Suarez

Suarez is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the world. In December 2016, he was considered (by The Guardian) the third-best football player in the world. In October 2015, he scored his 300th goal for club and country.

Suárez continues to average more than a goal every other game for his country, and is an icon and a talisman for Uruguay. This will be his third World Cup, his first in 2010 having ended with a controversial handball, and his second in 2014 concluding with a bite and a ban. “I am preparing physically and mentally so that this is my World Cup, especially given what happened in 2014,” he said earlier this year. “I want to make Uruguayans happy.”

 

Coach: Oscar Washington Tabarez

Óscar Tabárez, known as El Maestro (The Teacher), is a uruguayan football manager and former football player, who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of the Uruguay national team.

On 25 March 2016, two and a half weeks after completing ten years as the manager of Uruguay, Tabárez surpassed Francisco Maturana for the head coach with most World Cup qualifying games in South America (47 qualifications), with the singularity that he has only managed Uruguay. Tabárez is also the fifth-ranked manager with most games at the Copa América (26), participating in five tournaments (1989, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2016). In 2012 Tabaréz became the recipient of the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.

 

Group: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt.